This is a list of named horses and the senior Union and Confederate officers who rode them during the American Civil War.
| Horse | Officer | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Ajax | Robert E. Lee | Ajax was reportedly too large for Lee to ride comfortably and was therefore used infrequently |
| Aldebaron | Philip Sheridan | Sheridan's first horse |
| Almond Eye | Benjamin F. Butler | |
| Bayard | Philip Kearny | Kearny's secondary horse; Kearny was killed at Chantilly while riding this horse |
| Bill | Henry J. Hunt | |
| Billy | George H. Thomas | Named for William T. Sherman |
| Black Auster | William J. Hardee | |
| Black Bess | John Hunt Morgan | |
| Blackie | George G. Meade | Meade's secondary horse |
| Blackjack | Jefferson Davis | |
| Boney | William Rosecrans | Rosecrans' favorite horse |
| Brown Roan (also referred to as "The Roan") | Robert E. Lee | One of Lee's secondary horses, Brown Roan went blind in 1862 and had to be retired |
| Bucephalus | Sterling Price | The original Bucephalus was the black stallion of Alexander the Great on his journeys to Africa and Asia, after which Sterling Price named his horse. |
| Burns (also called Black Burns) | George B. McClellan | McClellan's secondary horse |
| Butler | Wade Hampton | Hampton's favorite horse |
| Captain | Wade Hampton | |
| Charlemagne | Joshua Chamberlain | |
| Cincinnati | Ulysses S. Grant | Grant's favorite and most famous horse, acquired in 1864; most paintings of and memorials to Grant depict him astride Cincinnati, including the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial at the base of Capitol Hill |
| Cornwall | John Sedgwick | Sedgwick's secondary horse |
| Daniel Webster | George B. McClellan | |
| Decatur | Philip Kearny | Kearny's secondary horse, shot through the neck at the Battle of Fair Oaks |
| Dixie | Edward Porter Alexander | |
| Dixie | Patrick Cleburne | Horse killed at the Battle of Perryville |
| Dolly | William T. Sherman | Sherman's secondary horse |
| Don Juan[1] | George Armstrong Custer | One of Custer's secondary horses |
| Duke | William T. Sherman | In a letter in 1888, Sherman wrote that his favorite horse throughout the war was the one he rode in Atlanta |
| Egypt | Ulysses S. Grant | One of many secondary horses used by Grant |
| Fancy | John F. Reynolds | Reynolds' favorite horse |
| Fanny | John Gibbon | |
| Faugh-a-Ballagh | Patrick Kelly | |
| Fire-Eater | Albert Sidney Johnston | |
| Firefly | Robert E. Rodes | |
| Fleeter | Belle Boyd | |
| Fleetfoot | Walter H. Taylor | |
| Fly-By-Night | James Longstreet | A gift from General Robert E. Lee in 1864 |
| Fox | Ulysses S. Grant | Grant's primary horse |
| Gertie | George G. Meade | Meade's secondary horse |
| Grand Old Canister | Daniel Sickles | Sickles' secondary horse |
| Grape | Daniel Sickles | Sickles' secondary horse |
| Grey Eagle | John Buford | |
| Handsome Joe | John Sedgwick | Sedgwick's secondary horse |
| Harry | George Armstrong Custer | One of Custer's secondary horses |
| Hero | James Longstreet | |
| Highfly | J.E.B. Stuart | Stuart's secondary horse |
| Jack | Ulysses S. Grant | One of many secondary horses used by Grant |
| Jasper | Robert H. Milroy | [2] |
| Jeff Davis | John Bell Hood | |
| Jeff Davis | Ulysses S. Grant | One of many secondary horses used by Grant |
| Jennie | Sullivan Ballou | Killed at First Bull Run, the horse Ballou was riding when he received his mortal wound at that battle |
| Jinny | Isaac R. Trimble | |
| Kangaroo | Ulysses S. Grant | One of many secondary horses used by Grant |
| Kentuck | George B. McClellan | McClellan's favorite horse |
| King Philip | Nathan Bedford Forrest | Forrest's favorite horse after the death of Roderick |
| Lancer | George Armstrong Custer | Custer's favorite horse |
| Little Sorrel (also Old Sorrel) | Stonewall Jackson | Jackson was fatally wounded while riding Little Sorrel at the Battle of Chancellorsville; Little Sorrel is buried on the Virginia Military Institute parade deck mere feet from Jackson's famous statue |
| Lookout | Joseph Hooker | Named after the Battle of Lookout Mountain |
| Lucy Long | Robert E. Lee | A gift from J.E.B. Stuart, Lucy Long was the primary back-up horse used by Lee |
| Methuselah | Ulysses S. Grant | Grant's first horse upon re-entering the Army in 1861 |
| Milroy | John B. Gordon | The horse was captured from Union General Robert H. Milroy at Second Winchester in 1863 and subsequently named after him. |
| Moscow | Philip Kearny | Reportedly Kearny's favorite, though Kearny avoided riding him due to his conspicuous white color |
| My Maryland | J.E.B. Stuart | Stuart's secondary horse |
| Nellie Gray | Fitzhugh Lee | Horse killed at the Battle of Opequon |
| Old Baldy (also simply Baldy) | George G. Meade | Meade's favorite horse, which he rode at the Battle of Gettysburg; Old Baldy was wounded at First Bull Run and Antietam |
| Old Bob | Ambrose Burnside | |
| Old Isham | Benjamin F. Cheatham | Horse was named after Isham Harris, the Confederate Governor of Tennessee |
| Old Jim | Strong Vincent | |
| Old Spot | Judson Kilpatrick | |
| Pocohontas | George H. Steuart | |
| Pretty | David McMurtie Gregg | |
| Prince | John F. Reynolds | Reynolds' secondary horse |
| Plug Ugly | Alpheus S. Williams | |
| Rambler | John Sedgwick | Sedgwick's favorite horse |
| Red Eye | Richard B. Garnett | |
| Red Pepper | Patrick Cleburne | |
| Richmond | Robert E. Lee | Richmond died in 1862 after the Battle of Malvern Hill |
| Rienzi (later Winchester) | Philip Sheridan | Renamed after Sheridan's famous ride at the Battle of Winchester |
| Rifle | Richard S. Ewell | |
| Roanoke | George Armstrong Custer | One of Custer's secondary horses |
| Roderick | Nathan Bedford Forrest | Forrest's favorite horse |
| Rondy | Ulysses S. Grant | The first horse Grant used in battle |
| Rosey | William P. Carlin | Named for William S. Rosecrans |
| Sam | William T. Sherman | Sherman's secondary horse |
| Shiloh | Daniel Ruggles | |
| Skylark | J.E.B. Stuart | [3] |
| Slicky | Alfred Pleasonton | |
| Tammany | Daniel Sickles | Sickles' favorite horse |
| Tobey | William Rosecrans | |
| Tom Telegraph | Turner Ashby | [4] |
| Traveller | Robert E. Lee | Lee's favorite horse; Traveller died a few months after Lee in 1871, and was later buried beside him at Lee Chapel in Virginia |
| Virginia | J.E.B. Stuart | Noted in Gettysburg Campaign[5] |
| Warren | Bryan Grimes | Pulled Grimes' coffin during his funeral procession |
| Yorkshire | Alpheus S. Williams |
See also
editReferences
editFurther reading
edit- Cozzens, Peter. Shenandoah 1862: Stonewall Jackson's Valley Campaign. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2008. ISBN 978-0-8078-3200-4.
- Magner, Blake A. Traveller & Company, The Horses of Gettysburg. Gettysburg, PA: Farnsworth House Military Impressions, 1995. ISBN 0-9643632-2-4.
- Wert, Jeffry D. Cavalryman of the Lost Cause: A Biography of J.E.B. Stuart. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2008. ISBN 978-0-7432-7819-5.